Contents

Fanficrants is a Livejournalcommunity for ranting about fanfic and matters relating to it. As of 2017, it has 42,296 posts; 1,366,863 comments; and 10,338 members.[1]

Fanficrants is a large and active community, but there is a relatively small pool of topics that are ranted about. Bad summaries, unfortunate misspelling, characterization, and rape/dubcon are frequent rant topics. Discussions can sometimes get heated, especially when the OP makes sweeping generalizations or speaks in absolutes ("this would never happen," or "anyone who does this is wrong.") [2] (Ban on incest rants? I seem to recall that there was, at one point).

Letter format is a popular style for rants (especially the ubiquitous "Open Letter to __" format). Such posts are often addressed to fanbrats, fanpoodles, fantards or fantwats. The usage of these terms is not unproblematic, as some people point out that some of these terms contribute to an ableist and misogynist mentality. [3]

Fanficrants is often a target of trolls, and has featured not infrequently on Fandom Wank. [4] The mods wield the banhammer against trolls and people who try to stir up wank. The mod tags are a source of joy and amusement for community members (see, for instance, admit it you like the moderator tags).

Fanficrants is full of both Unpopular Fannish Opinions and rants that many fans consider wild overreactions. People who take issue with a post can rant about the rant at ffrantsrants, an affiliate community.

Introduction

Welcome to Fanficrants. Home of the slightly wanky and not so bright sometimes.

What this community is and is not:

This is a RANT community. People are going to RANT about things. This isn't to say that the rants themselves are the end all and be all of a person's attitude toward writing fanfiction. (They might not even think the same way in a few months.) This is not a happy fluffy place where everyone can expect bunnies and daisies. [5]

Avoiding Drama

A post entitled How to Rant in a Public Community Without Looking Like an Asshat offers several suggestions on how to avoid creating drama and ending up on Fandom Wank:

1. DO NOT TELL PEOPLE WHAT CONTENT TO WRITE.

2. DO NOT MAKE NONSENSICAL GENERALIZATIONS.

3. DO NOT BASH PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS/GENRES/PEOPLE WHO READ CERTAIN GENRES/ETC. WITH SAID GENERALIZATIONS.

Changing Culture

The culture at fanficrants has changed over the years. Most recently, FFR has become interested in social justice issues. Many rants are about people who fail to provide adequate trigger warnings. People who use *ist language in comments or rants are chided for using inappropriate language. Some people approve of this cultural shift, while others find all entertainment value has been drained from the community.

As one FFA nonnie said: "Omg. So glad I left that community. The SJWs were just overrunning that place, and I see it hasn't changed much. Yeah, the icon is NSFW, and I can understand asking to change it because of that reason, but the handwringing and oh, it's so unsettling and could be triggering!OTT reactions are ridiculous." [7]

Others find that the interest in social justice issues has provided every higher levels of entertainment:

"I am deeply saddened that Kafka did not live to see ffrants. It would have delighted him so." --an anonymous fan responding to a rant about 'potato' being an ethnic slur as applied to Scott from Teen Wolf."[8]